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Tippi Shorter explains how she became a celebrity hairstylist to stars like Rihanna, Alicia Keys

Celebrity hair stylist and hair educator Tippi Shorter has had superstar clients everywhere from Rihanna and Alicia Keys to Jennifer Hudson and Lady Gaga. She is also president of hair extension company Her Imports.

Our series “How I became a …” digs into the stories of accomplished and influential people, finding out how they got to where they are in their careers.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Celebrity hairstylist and hair educator Tippi Shorter has had superstar clients everywhere, from Rihanna and Alicia Keys to Jennifer Hudson and Lady Gaga, and an impressive resume that includes her titles as the first African-American spokesperson for Pantene and as global artistic director for textured hair at Aveda. Now serving as president of hair extension company Her Imports while still keeping herself busy as a celebrity hairstylist, Shorter wears many hats – or, as she says it, “many hairstyles.”

USA TODAY caught up with Shorter to talk about everything from President Barack Obama to cosmetic and hair care companies to, well, hair.

Hairstylist Tippi Shorter works on the hair of singer and actress Jennifer Hudson.(Photo: Courtesy of Tippi Shorter)

Question: What’s your coffee order?

Tippi Shorter: I get an iced coffee with full cream and two stevia. It could be an ice storm outside and I’d still want an iced coffee.

Q: What’s the last book you read?

Shorter: I have an 11-year-old daughter, and we are doing a book club – so, the last book that I read is called "All the Missing Girls" by Megan Miranda.

Q: What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

Shorter: Going to the (first) inauguration of President Obama. I was there working, but I was there, and it was amazing.

Q: Who has been your biggest mentor?

Shorter: I’ve had several, honestly. I’d say the biggest mentor is my very first boss, Jamika Wilson. She is a freelance celebrity hairstylist out in California, and she is someone whose career I had always looked up to, and she showed me that I had growth opportunities outside just being behind the chair as a hairstylist.

Hairstylist Tippi Shorter, left, is seen here working on the set of the television show “Entertainment Tonight”.(Photo: courtesy of Tippi Shorter)

Q: What does your career path look like, from college to now?

Shorter: I was super unfocused right out of college, had no idea what I wanted to do. I grew up in Southern California, and I gravitated towards the arts. I was involved in musical groups and dance groups, and my mother was kind of in the space of “if we’re going to go to college, great, but if you’re not, get a job and find something that you enjoy doing.”

I went to college, enrolled for criminal justice, and just knew that I was not fulfilled. I was not satisfied. For lack of not even falling asleep in the classroom, it just did not stimulate me in any way because I really enjoyed the creative arts. So, after the first year, I decided not to go back, and I had an opportunity to work for a young lady named Jamika Wilson. Her assistant was going to be taking maternity leave, and she was a really good friend of mine. She said “Hey Tippi, I know you are interested in the beauty industry and, you know, if you go to school and get your license, by the time you graduate I should be ready to take my maternity leave.”

And so I did just that. To make sure I was done in time, I was going to day and night school, I was taking every advanced class I could just for extra credit, and I graduated and got my very first job as a style assistant. From there, as I said, (Wilson) really kind of showed me there were multiple opportunities outside of just being behind the chair. So, she’s the one that showed me that you could work within the entertainment industry, which was my original passion, helping to develop and create looks for new singers and for actresses, and that you could be an educator for brands, and a spokesperson. She really opened up that door for me to show me.

Shortly after working with her for about a year, I wanted to move to New York, so I did. I really kind of started, as I call it, my “grind,” and it really put the opportunity to create a solid career in New York. By the fifth year of living and working in New York City I was opening up my very first salon in SoHo.

I did that for five years and during that time I was trying to maximize and capitalize on my knowledge, so I was a hair color educator, a haircut educator, the go-to person for a lot of editorial magazines – Seventeen, Teen People, People, InStyle, all those magazines would kind of look to me — and I really found my niche, which was textured hair: curls and coils and things like that. I also got the opportunity at that point to start working with celebrities. Around the fifth year of owning my salon, I met this beautiful young singer by the name of Rihanna, and she was just starting her career and told me she was looking for a solid team to stick with her through her journey. I decided to take that leap with her, so I sold my salon, got my passport and traveled around the world with her. It was amazing and wonderful and exciting. She was brand new, I was brand new, and we were just learning and doing it together.

While working with Rihanna, my career continued to grow. I started getting lots of requests from other celebrities, so I started to expand my client roster in that space. Then, I had an opportunity to become a spokesperson: Pantene was launching a new line for women of color, specialized in textured hair, and from what I understand they interviewed about 25 hairstylists. I was probably one of the last five that they interviewed, and I learned that I got the role – so I became a spokesperson for Pantene for 10 years. (It was) everything from editorial to TV makeovers like morning shows (things like “how to get your hair fabulous with things from your refrigerator") – I did all of those types of things.

Tippy Shorter, right, is a global artistic director for textured hair at Aveda and the first African American spokesperson for hair care products company Pantene.(Photo: courtesy of Tippi Shorter)

From there, I left Pantene and joined Aveda, an Estee Lauder company. They were looking for someone to head their texture division as an artistic director, and in this role I was able to create educational content that I would travel the world to teach people. I would certify additional educators to go out and teach my curriculum, and then I was also able to create the advertising that you saw in the Aveda salons, schools and stores. I did that for six years. Additionally, I worked with their R&D team and marketing team to develop products specific to textured hair – so, anything that would be perfect for waves, curls and coils.

After that, a hair extension company that was looking to develop products that expanded their range reached out to me. This was the first time I was brought in as a creative, but my role wasn’t specific to a being hair stylist — it was specific to helping the brand expand and build. I love to say this was the time I went from literally behind the chair to behind a desk. Instead of spending 12 hours working on hair, I’m spending 12 hours working on marketing and producing content. My role then turned from VP of Marketing and creative director to president of this hair extension company called Her Imports.

During that entire time, I still traveled with celebrities. Each role I’ve had, I’ve made sure that I was still able to travel with my celebrity clients and keep my hands in their hair because I’ve felt that that’s what really helped propel my career to begin with. I never wanted to lose touch with that.

After living in New York for 20 years and getting married and having a daughter, we moved to the Midwest. So, I actually live in Kansas City, Missouri – (which was) really great with the transition moving from behind the chair to behind the desk, because it’s something I could do from home. When I work with celebrities, I just go to either New York or L.A. because I’m right in the middle. I just go where I’m needed.

So, currently, I still work with celebrities like Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson, and I am president of the hair extension company Her Imports. Additionally, I get tapped to do some social media and some social presence content for additional brands that I love.

Hairstylist Tippi Shorter, left, works on the hair of singer Kelly Rowland along with other stylists and makeup artists recently.(Photo: courtesy of Tippi Shorter)

Q: What does a typical day look like for you?

Shorter: A typical day for me at home looks like me getting up, fixing breakfast for my daughter and my husband and dropping her off at camp or at school. I go to the gym, work out a bit, and then getting behind my computer and doing some work: creating content, making contacts, pitching stories, working on new product development. Then, maybe I’m going into my basement – I created a little studio in my basement where I can create content for not only the companies that I consult for but even for myself and my own personal blog and for my followers and people who look up to me and in my educational team.

Q: What is your biggest career high and your biggest career low?

Shorter: Being picked over several dozen of the people I looked up to to be this voice to speak on behalf of this major brand was a huge career high. That really helped elevate my work.

Celebrity hairstylist works on singer Alicia Key’s hair before an event.(Photo: courtesy of Tippi Shorter)

(Low) Really, and this is speaking more to freelance work, the only low is that it’s so last-minute sometimes. I can tell you that I got a call once and they were like, “Hey, Tippi, can you go to Japan in two days?”

I’m like, in two days? Who does that? (laughs) Can I get a couple weeks notice so that I can prepare my family? So, that would probably be the low – that a lot of the celebrity work is so last-minute that it really tends to affect my family plans sometimes.

Q: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career?

Shorter: Never stop learning. Even as an educator, never stop learning, being a sponge and being able to adapt to new environments and new work scenarios – I mean, in no way ever would I ever think that I would be named president of a company that was publicly traded, that didn’t rely on me styling hair every single day. Be open, be flexible and never stop learning.

Hairstylist and global artistic director for textured hair for cosmetics company Aveda Tippi Shorter is photographed for an online ad for the company.(Photo: courtesy of Tippi Shorter)

Q: What advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps career-wise?

Shorter: Find a mentor and be available. There have been many times when someone would call say, “Hey Tippi, I have this job. Are you available tomorrow?”

And, yeah, sure. My first questions aren’t well, what time is it? How much is it going to pay? Those aren’t my questions. My questions are, sure, what do I need to bring? When you’re in your growth phase, be available and be present.